I'm living my best life…Are you living yours?

5 Reasons you’re probably not living to your full potential…

I look at the overall picture of what my life is slowly blossoming into and I’m happy. Knowing that (God willing) I have a lot of time to become the woman that I am meant to be, I let stress be something that I know about but have nothing to do with. It just makes my life a lot harder to live. When I am stressed I clam up and I do nothing. I let self-doubt run my emotions and my actions and I become a sinking ship…fast. So the only solution to this that I can see is to eliminate stress completely. No need for too much urgency, I know I’ll get there and I’ll enjoy the journey too.

So, getting on topic, I decided to write a list of why I, and many other people are not living anywhere close to their full potential. You know, many of us settle for the status quo, doing what has been done and what we’re told to do. Because we didn’t learn something in school, it is the school’s fault that we are so ignorant. I think these common attitudes contribute to our lack of originality.

1. The path has always carved out for you. Now this I say for any lifestyle from living in the projects to in million dollar mansions. From things as literal as roads and pathways to things as general as lifestyles someone created it for you and generally we follow what we see. Just because we’ve had so many come before us does not mean we can’t sometimes tarry off of a pre-made path and do something unthinkable. Many of us settle for what is ordinary, which is fine, but I think it would do the world better if more of us stepped out of our comfort zones. Create a new path!

2. Failure terrifies you. Why has failure been made into such a negative thing? Failure is a prerequisite to success…an inciter of growth…the best way to learn. Why is it feared so? Many, including myself, don’t even try because failure is so frightening. What is even more frightening is the fact that failing to try is the worst type of failure. You get the same exact results as if you tried and failed except without the learning experience. So, cherish your failures, because each failure is bringing you that much closer to your next success.

3. People think. We all know this. Being intelligent beings, we love to contemplate situations before we actually get there. This is a wonderful feature in being human but it is also debilitating. Before even trying, one will speculate peoples reactions and make a decision based on his or her own speculations. ‘they will laugh at me…they will think I’m so dumb for entering that competition’ As one of my best friends puts it, good thing I don’t pay you to think….Just do it!

4. Life is hard. Life is filled with so many twists and turns. Everything cannot be predicted and no amount of research is going to tell you what your life will bring you next. We can only plan based on what we do know, prepare for the worst and hope for the very best. We get so stressed out about some things early on in life that seem so stupid and petty later. It is not extremely easy to deal with all the blows life is throwing at you (some more than others) and try to succeed in the way that you want. Don’t stress.

5. You can see. Those who are blessed with eyesight are afraid not to use it. If we can’t see it, it scares us and we need to see everything that’s going on. I’m tired of living some life prescribed to me by God knows who. I kinda just want to break loose and do something crazy. Why are so many afraid of the dark? Because they can’t see. We tend to be afraid of the unknown because we need to be in control. The unknown should excite us. Plus, in the dark, (unless you are handicapped in some way) you have four other senses. We seem to forget how many strengths we have. I mean this literally and figuratively…Every single one of us has plenty of gifts that we just ignore. We should instead explore our wonderful selves. There is no one else out there like you and no matter who you are….No matter what nationality….No matter how normal people may tell you you are, you are so special. You deserve to be appreciated mostly by yourself. You owe it to everyone else to love yourself enough to show everyone how awesome you are. Don’t be rude to people, you are taking away their chance to know you. Also, don’t be quick to anger, because the annoying things that make us all angry are usually kinda dumb.

Anyway, I kinda went off topic as many times as I went on topic, so I hope this writing exercise is beneficial to someone. And while on the topic of going off-topic, I don’t see anything wrong with overusing the word love because it’s about damn time it got overused. I wish everyone a wonderful and stress free week!